POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – The Department of Athletics & Physical Education at Vassar College is pleased to announce the hiring of Steven Merritt as the Director of Athletic Communications. The announcement was made by Director of Athletics & Physical Education, Michelle Walsh.
 
Merritt, who has served as the interim Director of Athletic Communications since February 2023 following the departure of the Assistant Director of Athletics for Communications, will continue to be responsible for the promotion and coverage of all 29 of Vassar's varsity and varsity club programs.
 
"I'm thrilled to announce that Steven Merritt will be serving as our next Director of Athletic Communications here at Vassar," stated Walsh. "Steve stepped into the Interim Director role this past February and since that time, he has done an absolutely outstanding job promoting our 29 teams and 550+ student-athletes.  I'm excited to have him continue on with us in this new role."
 
Merritt originally joined the Brewers staff in August of 2022, taking on the role of Assistant Director of Athletic Communications. He served as the primary media relations contact for 14 programs, handling all the day-to-day operations, along with in-game statistics, social media promotion, and post-game coverage.
 
Highlighting his first season with the Brewers were post-season conference or NCAA Tournament runs by 15 different teams, including an NCAA Semifinals appearance by the men's volleyball program which held the top-ranking amongst all Division III teams for a number of weeks. In addition to a number of conference honors across all 29 programs, Merritt helped with the promotion of the AVCA Division III National Player of the Year in Andrew Kim (men's volleyball) and the AVCA Division III National Coach of the Year in Richard Gary (men's volleyball).
 
Additionally, Merritt helped coordinate all the year-end honors for the Vassar Athletic Department, including nomination compilation, voting coordination, video creation and graphics for the in-person celebration in May.
 
Merritt came to Vassar after serving the three years in various roles at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh. He served as the assistant softball coach for the Knights, assisting in the organization and running of practices, in-game instruction & execution, along with recruiting efforts.
 
From 2018 through the 2020 season, Merritt served as intern, before being promoted to the assistant sports information director role for Mount Saint Mary. He helped manage all aspects of the department alongside director Mike Doughty. Among his many duties included management of the athletics website, in-game statistics, scorekeeping, social media management, recaps and game previews.
Merritt, who was a part of the Hall of Fame Committee, also helped cover the women's basketball team during its NCAA Tournament run during the 2019-20 season.
 
"I would like to thank Director of Athletics & Physical Education Michelle Walsh, Deputy Director of Athletics, Director of Student-Athlete Welfare & Senior Woman Administrator Kaitlin Leach and the search committee for giving me the opportunity to continue working with the Vassar community in this new role" said Merritt. "I'm thrilled to be continuing my professional career with Vassar and I am looking forward to continuing to work with our tremendous student-athletes and coaches on promoting all the great things that they do both athletically and academically. "
 
In addition to his time at Mount Saint Mary, Merritt currently works with Hudson Valley Select Travel Baseball, serving as head coach for 15U and helps run the social media platforms for the organization. He has also served as a head coach, and formerly an assistant, for Newburgh Knights Travel Baseball with the 10U-18U and HVCBL programs since April of 2010.
 
Merritt is a 2018 graduate of SUNY Cortland, earning a Bachelor's in Sport Management.